The law of diminishing returns is operating at full throttle at the BC Ferries Corporation. When it comes to FOI requests, it seems the more ferry officials look for controversial documents, the fewer they find. That would be one explanation for why BC Ferries originally responded to an FOI request from the BC Freedom of […]

BC FIPA has sent a submission the the Vancouver Police Board regarding the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) policy of simultaneous disclosure of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. BC FIPA notes that the BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner concluded that this practice violates the fundamental purpose of the Freedom of Information […]

FOI WATCHDOG SAYS WRIST SLAP OPENS THE DOOR TO ABUSE BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has found BC Ferries’ FOI policy operates in a way that ‘frustrates the purposes of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act’, but has declined to do anything concrete about it. After being put back under the Act […]

TIME TO STOP LITIGATING AND START POSTING ROUTINELY, SAYS FIPA FIPA has won another important victory in forcing the provincial government to release contracts it makes with the private sector. In a decision handed down yesterday, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered the government to hand over most of the remaining parts […]

Liberal Party of Canada’s response to BC FIPA, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and Newspapers Canada’s question regarding their position on ATI reform. A Liberal government will:   • Post all Access to Information requests, responses, and response times online at accesstoinformation.gc.ca;   • Immediately restore the long-form census;   • Make as many government datasets […]

Jack Layton’s response on behalf of the NDP to FIPA, CTF, and Newspapers Canada question regarding the party’s position on access to information reform. New Democrats are committed to improve the Access to Information system through a variety of measures that include increasing the powers of the Information Commissioner, speeding up the processing time of […]

The federal Access to Information system is in chaos, but the parties seeking office have said nothing about what they will do to fix it. FIPA, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Newspapers Canada have sent a joint letter to to the party leaders asking them what they will do to combat an already a disastrous […]

RELEASING THE FULL $300 MILLION IBM CONTRACT WOULD END A SEVEN-YEAR LEGAL BATTLE AND BE A REAL DEMONSTRATION OF OPENNESS, SAYS FIPA Vancouver – BC’s new Minister for Open Government can take a big step toward real openness by routinely posting its multi-million dollar outsourcing contracts online, says the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy […]

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) is conducting an investigation and consultation into the practice of proactive disclosure of information by BC public bodies. The investigation was prompted by a FIPA complaint about BC Ferries’ controversial policy of posting records obtained through FOI requests on their website, along with the names of […]

BC FIPA has responded to the Infomation and Privacy Commissioner’s investigation into proactive disclosure. The Office of the Commissioner has asked for input through a questionnaire. Today FIPA has provided its answers to the questions, its comments on what constitutes a model proactive disclosure policy, as well as its recommendations on the practice of simultaneous […]

The scope of the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner’s investigation into BC Ferries’ FOI practices has been expanded to cover the whole B.C. government’s proactive information release policy. Any interested persons may submit their views on this topic to the Commissioner’s office, by the end of Friday, March 11, 2011. Submissions may follow the format […]

A current trend by politicians and bureaucrats to embrace electronic ‘Open Government’ initiatives may not empower citizens to demand the specific information they want, says FIPA’s new Executive Director, Vincent Gogolek. Rather, it may divert government from making long-overdue improvements to Canada’s Access to Information system. Gogolek appeared before the Standing Committee on Access to […]